children’s rights legislative reform

Sustainable policies for children - Childrens Rights Reform

Non-legal measures to support incorporation of children’s rights

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Sustainable policies for children

It is important to distinguish between law and policy; although they are intertwined, they are also distinct.

Therefore, policy and law, and as part of that children’s rights legislation, must work hand‐in‐hand, as interrelated and interdependent tools for the fulfilment of child rights.

E.g.: Policy to support legislative reform – in Ireland, the Child Care Act 1991 marked a clear shift from the perception of children as object of adults’ good or bad will to subjects of rights. This shift was reflected in the Department of Health’s Child Care Policy that followed in 1993. Moreover, in recognition of the interdependence of rights, the Irish Government appointed a Minister of State to the Departments of Health, Education and Justice with a special responsibility for children.

E.g.: The CRC was incorporated directly into Icelandic legislation in 2013, along with the first two Optional Protocols. In 2021 a policy and an action plan – Child Friendly Iceland – was adopted by Parliament to advance the implementation of the CRC, as no real steps had been taken to actually “strengthen children’s human rights”, which was the stated purpose of the incorporation.

  • There is no official English translation of the Act available but the text is fairly straightforward as it simply states that the CRC and two optional protocols have legal validity in Iceland. It then specifies changes to laws on social protection and the rights of persons with disabilities (child’s right to be heard added) and execution of sentences (prisoners under 18 housed in child protection facilities). This was of course not an exhaustive list of all the changes that had to be made and some changes have been made since. Attached to the Act is the full text of articles 1– 45 of the CRC and the two protocols.

Children’s rights legislative reform is essential to ensure the stability and continuity of policies, as they are then firmly rooted in law and not merely the discretionary decision of individuals at the executive level.

Following the passing of legislation, States Parties should develop policies necessary for its implementation.

  • Children’s rights legislation expresses States Parties’ policy priorities concerning children’s rights.
  • Many common law jurisdictions provide statements of their development priorities through ‘Principles of State Policy’. Broad provisions are usually provided on issues that are political, social, economic, educational and cultural, or that concern budgeting. Such principles serve as yardsticks for assessing and critiquing the actions of government by both State and non‐State actors and provide a clear indication of the principles that drive a government’s policies concerning children.

E.g.: In Ghana, the Directive Principles of State Policy are to “guide all citizens, Parliament, the President, the judiciary, the Council of State, the Cabinet, political parties and other bodies and persons in applying or interpreting this Constitution or any other law and in taking and implementing any policy decisions, for the establishment of a just and free society” (Article 34(1) Constitution of the Republic of Ghana).

  • The Directive Principles of State Policy of 1992 guided the Multisectoral Child Law Reform Committee in the formulation of the first Children’s Act of 1998 (Act 560). This ensured the inclusion of civil and political rights in addition to economic, social and cultural rights in the text of the instrument.